Jazz

One of my favorite West Coast jazz arrangers is Bill Holman. His pen is absolutely gorgeous for ensembles of all sizes, from quintets to big bands. While listening to Richie Kamuca albums in 1956 and '57 yesterday, I was thunderstruck by an octet session Bill played on and arranged. Which made me think about how superb all of Bill's many octet sessions are -- whether he's playing in one or or arranging...

As an artist, building an audience is one of the hardest and most important things to do, and it can be difficult to know where to start. Here we look at helpful comprehensive beginner's guide to successfully growing an audience from the ground up.
Guest post from the TuneCore Blog [Editors Note:The following is an installment in our series of a partnership between TuneCore and students at Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business at Belmont University. In an attempt to offer new insight and educational content for independent artists, we're excited to give these music industry professionals of the future a journalistic platform...

Trombonist Bill Allred and his Classic Jazz Band brought their Charlotte County Jazz Society audience on a musical journey, on Monday, November 12, that explored music rooted in New Orleans, moved up the Mississippi River, and then over the highways to dig into the big band phenomenon that took the country by storm starting in the 1930s...

All About Jazz is celebrating Hampton Hawes' birthday today!
Who Was Hampton Hawes? Although one rarely hears of Hampton Hawes today he was a significant presence on the jazz scene in the mid- 50s then again from the mid-60s on until his death in 1977. A direct descendant of bebop who had been variously classified as "West Coast" and "funk-jazz" or "rhythm school," Hawes transcended all these categories. He was famous for his prodigious right hand, his deep groove, his very personal playing... Read more...

Despite how great your fans may be, they can't be counted on to know when all your upcoming gigs are, and need a little gentle reminding in order to get them through the venue door. Here we look at an email reminder strategy that won't irritate fans but can help keep a show on their radar.
Guest post by Bobby Owsinski of Music 3.0...

Since the beginning of the recording industry, the limitations imposed by format have directly influenced music, from wax cylinders to MP3s. Here we look at how the now dominant format -- streaming -- is reshaping music.
Guest post from AWAL
'We should get good enough that you don't have to take your phone out of your pocket to get the right stuff,' Echo Nest CEO Jim Lucchese told FiveThirtyEight in 2014, soon after Spotify acquired the Boston-based music intelligence startup. The corporate absorption would lead to Discover Weekly, and Lucchese's offhand comment speaks volumes about the evolution of listening -- and creating, by default...

In 1962, tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon moved his base of operations to Copenhagen, Denmark, returning to the U.S. in 1976. Shortly after his move abroad, Gordon was recorded live at the Modern Jazz Club Persepolis in Utrecht, the Netherlands, on January 20, 1963. And shortly after his move back to the States, he was recorded at Espace Cardin, in Paris, on September 25, 1977. Both recordings have just been released and both are superb, capturing Gordon at the start of new chapters...

A new streaming music survey in the Nordic countries offers a look at what may be the best that Spotify and the music industry can hope for when it comes to paid versus free streaming. Since streaming music was all but invented there, the Nordic countries of Norway, Finland, Denmark and Spotify's home country of Sweden, are considered to be streaming's most mature market...

All About Jazz is celebrating Charlie Mariano's birthday today!
Charlie Mariano is an American jazz alto saxophonist. He played with one of the Stan Kenton big bands, Toshiko Akiyoshi (his then wife), Charles Mingus, Eberhard Weber, the United Jazz and Rock Ensemble and numerous other notable musicians. His career can easliy be divided into two. Early on he was a fixture in Boston, playing with Shorty Sherock (1948), Nat Pierce (1949-50) and his own groups... Read more...

At the end of July 1977, Art Pepper went into New York's Village Vanguard. Recordings of nine sets over three days would be released years later as a nine-CD boxed set called the Complete Village Vanguard Sessions. It was heralded as some of Pepper's finest late-career playing. But a month before his Vanguard run, Pepper was in Toronto at Bourbon Street with a different pickup trio -- Bernie Senensky (p) Gene Perla or Dave Piltch and (b) Terry Clarke (d)...

Drummer Art Blakey had a profound impact on jazz that has stretched from the 1940s, through bebop's 1950s and '60s heyday, right up to the present. The music associated with his Jazz Messengers band and his legacy as a bandleader were celebrated by the Dan Miller-Lew Del Gatto quintet on Sunday, November 11, in Naples FL...

All About Jazz is celebrating Mario Pavone's birthday today!
Bassist/composer Mario Pavone has collaborated with both legendary innovators and today\'s most respected young musicians to consistently define the cutting edge of jazz for the past 40 years. He has anchored the trios of Paul Bley (1968-72), Bill Dixon (1980\'s), and the late Thomas Chapin (1990-97), and co-led a variety of notable ensembles with Anthony Braxton, Wadada Leo Smith, Marty Ehrlich, and Michael Musillami... Read more...

British bass guitarist and composer John Greaves, best known as a member of Henry Cow and his collaborative albums with Peter Blegvad is releasing a new album titled Life Size on Manticore Records on November 30, 2018. John was also a member of National Health and Soft Heap, and has recorded several solo albums, including Accident (1982), Parrot Fashions (1984), The Caretaker (2001) and Greaves Verlaine (2008)...

All About Jazz is celebrating Houston Person's birthday today!
Houston Person wears the Boss Tenor crown, worn so long by Gene Ammons. Mr. Person is busy working his own gigs; booking his tours, finding new clubs, having phone numbers for every major concert promoter on every continent. He even produces his own albums. His first big break came while working as a sideman with organist Johnny Hammond and his group, co-led by Etta Jones. Mr. Person\'s working relationship with Ms... Read more...

This week, StLJN&#39;s video spotlight shines on singer Dee Dee Bridgewater, who will be in St. Louis to perform next Saturday, November 17 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.
Long known as one of the top female jazz singers of her generation, Bridgewater went in a different musical direction for her most recent album, Memphis... Yes, I&#39;m Ready, which came out last year and features her takes on famous soul and blues tunes associated with her hometown...

Going as far back as the FM radio receivers of the 1950s, transportation and music have been inextricably linked; and as the landscape of the transportation industry changes, new marketing opportunities for music and artists are emerging.
By journalist Cherie Hu this first appeared on Forbes.com
"Ridesharing, 5G and edge computing are poised to alter transportation, and its accompanying media ecosystem...

Indie ticketer Eventbrite has launched Eventbrite Music, a new platform for independent music venues, promoters and festivals that includes technology from the company's 2017 acquisitions of Ticketfly and ticketscript. The Ticketfly brand will be phased out entirely next year, according to multiple reports...

Being an entrepreneuring artist in 2018 is still incredibly hard, but has some advantages as well, particularly in the monetary department. Here we look at eight tools that can help you to get your music out there an heard, and bring in a little cash while doing it.
Guest post by Evan Zwisler of Soundfly's Flypaper...

Dexter Allen's Live From Ground Zero Blues Club At The Crossroads in Clarksdale, Mississipp
November 16th Pre-Release: Put Your Blues On Me November 30th Release Date A Pass The Pick Project!
Dexter Allen releases his newest album on November 30th with a special pre-release single November 16th of Put Your Blues On Me. The magic was recorded live from the Crossroads, at Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, Mississippi. Actor Morgan Freeman is the club owner. The new material was captured in state-of-the-art, multi-track format from the soundboard of a new HD television show...